Former US official: ISIS has the capability to organize Paris-like attacks out of its new base in Libya

One
of the members of the military protecting a demonstration against
candidates for a national unity government proposed by U.N. envoy
for Libya Bernardino Leon, is pictured in
Benghazi.Thomson
Reuters

A former high-level US official told Congress this week that he's
concerned with what he sees happening with ISIS in Libya.

Former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford testified before the House Armed Services Committee
on Tuesday and said the US will have to be ready to help a new
government control territory in Libya as ISIS (also known as the
Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh) expands its influence there.

"I'm watching what's happening in Libya with concern," Ford said.

"They have an increasing ability to project military power out of
their base at Sirte, and they have a safe haven space to
organize, plan, and recruit. Just as the attack in Paris was
organized in Syria, so they have space in Libya to do the same
kind of thing."

The New York Times
reported in November that as western countries ramp up
strikes against ISIS' de-facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, ISIS
is preparing a sort of backup capital in the coastal city of
Sirte, Libya.

While ISIS has other affiliates throughout Africa and the Middle
East that have pledged their allegiance to its leader, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, the group's branch in Sirte is the only one
that ISIS central leadership directly controls.

ISIS seems to be mimicking its Iraq and Syria strategy in Libya,
seizing territory, imposing strict laws, and setting
up propaganda
"media points" in the city.

And Libya might be an ideal location for the terrorist group
considering not only its proximity to Europe but also the lack of
a functioning government and rich oil resources.

Screenshot / Google Maps

"Even if the Islamic State, which is capturing oil facilities,
even if it can’t sell oil the way the Islamic State affiliates in
Iraq and Syria have done, they may be able to use the oil assets
they have locally to generate revenues," Ford said in his
congressional testimony.

Ford emphasized the need to get a functioning government
installed in Libya.

"It will be important ... to help a new Libyan government
and to help it control territory, and we will need to be ready to
do that," he told Congress.

Fathi Ali Bashaagha, a politician from Misrata, Libya,
told The Wall Street Journal in November: "We don’t have a
real state. We have a fragmented government. Every day we
delay on a political deal, it is a golden opportunity for Islamic
State to grow."

Rival governments in Libya agreed to a draft peace accord in
October, but so far it has not been implemented, according
to The
Journal.